Ophelia

Shatter

                Wanda heard what Steve said to Sam before he opened her door. When he offered his hand, she took it with numb consideration. He pulled her to her feet and she stumbled a little, following him blindly as he went to the other cells.

"Scott and I were able to make deals with Ross, you go on and get," Clint told Steve. "I gotta be with my family after this. If these last few days showed us anything, it's that we never know when we might lose someone."

Steve nodded, taking Wanda's hand and helping guide her to the top of the raft prison.

"Hey Steve," Clint called. "Give him my regards."

"I will," Steve told him.

Somehow Wanda made it to the jet, her whole body numb as she thought about Ophelia, who was not so different from herself, six feet under. Another defective HYDRA creation. Dead, just like her brother. She shut her eyes and let the sobs rake through her as the jet took to the skies, as Sam and Steve argued about fault and blame.

Wanda wrapped her arms around her stomach until the tears stopped; how she could cry for someone she knew for naught but a day, but someone she understood on a deeper level than most. Somehow they could understand each other, somehow they connected in Leipzig. Wanda felt envious at how Ophelia and Bucky were able to fight on the same side, and how her and Vision were paired against each other in a silly fight over nothing but a misunderstanding.

She thought about Vis, how close they were to having something, how she already knew that she loved him. The thought of leaving him behind, the thought of ever fighting him again, it made her stomach twist and knot up. Such a horror, to fight the person you loved. And yet it was nothing compared to the thought of losing someone you loved. Wanda knew the agony Bucky felt, when she lost her brother she thought she had nothing left. But she had been wrong, she had Steve and Vision, and everyone else on the Avengers team.

What did Bucky have, she wondered.